Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, has actually alerted the West that military support for Ukraine dangers producing a dispute in between Russia and NATO.

Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, stated such a dispute might quickly intensify.

“The pumping of Ukraine by NATO countries with weapons, the training of its troops to use Western equipment, the dispatch of mercenaries and the conduct of exercises by the countries of the alliance near our borders increase the likelihood of a direct and open conflict between NATO and Russia instead of their ‘war by proxy,'” Medvedev declared in a Telegram post.

“Such a conflict always has the risk of turning into a full-fledged nuclear war,” Medvedev stated. “This will be a catastrophic scenario for everyone.”

Medvedev’s remarks come as stress in between Russia and NATO are most likely to increase even further after Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin revealed that the nation must use to sign up with NATO “without delay.” Sweden might likewise be set to reveal its intent to use to sign up with the military alliance.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukrainian forces are continuing to counterattack to the north of the city of Kharkiv, regaining a number of towns and towns towards the Russian border, according to the current intelligence upgrade from the British Ministry of Defence.

“Russia’s prioritisation of operations in the Donbas has left elements deployed in the Kharkiv Oblast vulnerable to the mobile, and highly motivated, Ukrainian counter-attacking force,” the ministry stated on Twitter.

Despite Russia’s success in surrounding Kharkiv in the preliminary phases of the dispute, it has actually supposedly withdrawn systems from the area to restructure and renew its forces after heavy losses, the intelligence upgrade specified.

“Once reconstituted, these forces will likely deploy to the eastern bank of the Siverskyi Donets River, forming a blocking force to protect the western flank of Russia’s main force concentration and main supply routes for operations in the vicinity of Izium.”

On Thursday, Ukraine’s militaries published on Twitter images claiming to reveal Russian forces that had actually been damaged as they tried to cross the Siverskyi Donets River.

— Holly Ellyatt

Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin stated Thursday that the nation must use to sign up with NATO “without delay.”

Finland has actually had a decades-long policy of military neutrality that would pertain to an end if it ends up being a complete member of the military alliance.

At the exact same time, the relocation from Helsinki might stimulate aggressiveness from Russia, where President Vladimir Putin has actually revealed his opposition versus NATO’s enhancement.

Finland shares a 830- mile border with Russia significance that signing up with the military alliance would approximately double the land border that Russia needs to show NATO areas (Russia has land borders with 14 nations and 5 of them are NATO members: Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland and Norway).

The guv of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine has actually reported a variety of casualties following numerous Russian airstrikes targeting important facilities, consisting of schools over night in Novhorod-Siversky

There were “several air strikes on critical infrastructure” consisting of schools, Governor Vyacheslav Chaus stated on his Telegram channel, publishing pictures of broken structures.

“There are dead and wounded,” he stated, without defining numbers. He stated rescuers and medics were operating at the scene.

Other administrative structures and personal homes were likewise harmed, he included.

NBC has actually not individually confirmed reports.

Russia is the “most direct threat” to the worldwide order, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen alerted throughout a conference in Japan.

Speaking after talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, von der Leyen stated at an interview “is today the most direct threat to the world order with the barbaric war against Ukraine.”

She likewise mentioned what she called Russia’s “worrying pact” with China and “their call for new, and very much arbitrary, international relations.”

European Council President Charles Michel likewise participated in the top in the Japanese capital of Tokyo, which saw both Japan and the EU promise to enhance ties.

Commenting on the intrusion, Japan’s Kishida stated: “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not just a matter for Europe, but it shakes the core of the international order including Asia. This must not be tolerated.”

More than 500 members of the National Guard of Ukraine have actually passed away given that Russia’s intrusion in late February, stated Oleksiy Nadtochyi, the head of its functional department, according to NBC News.

This is the very first time the military force has actually revealed its death toll given that the war started.

Nadtochyi informed state media that 501 members were eliminated and 1,697 have actually been hurt, NBC News reported.

The National Guard covers Ukraine’s northern border with Belarus and is likewise associated with operations in the nation’s eastern and south areas, Nadtochyi included.

Ukraine’s National Guard was formed in March 2014 when Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea and works as a military system with police powers.

— Chelsea Ong

The pro-Russian leader set up in Ukrainian’s southern city of Kherson, the very first city to have actually fallen totally under Russian control, states he will ask for that Putin annex the area for Russia.

“There will be a request to make Kherson region a full subject of the Russian Federation,” stated Kirill Stremousov, the newly-appointed deputy head of the military-civilian administration in Kherson, according to Russian news firms. He included that Kherson will be totally under Russian law by the end of this year.

Kremlin representative Dmitry Peskov reacted by stating that it depended on Kherson’s homeowners to choose whether they would sign up withRussia But Ukrainian and Western authorities caution that Moscow is preparing to hold a sham referendum there to validate Russian guideline.

Kherson is a tactically essential capture for Moscow as it offers a land link in between Russian separatist-backed areas in eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk and Crimea to the south, which it annexed in 2014.

— Natasha Turak

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson signed a security statement with Sweden, vowing to support the Nordic nation if it comes under military attack. The security pact can likewise indicate intelligence sharing or joint military drills, Johnson stated.

“The declaration makes clear, it’s upon request of Sweden that the U.K. will of course provide assistance,” the U.K. leader stated. “What matters primarily is what Sweden decides to request.”

The news comes as Sweden and Finland, the latter of which borders Russia, are set to make their choices on whether to look for subscription to the NATO alliance, breaking a long-held position of neutrality when it pertains to the alliance andRussia Moscow has actually threatened repercussions if the nations were to sign up with NATO.

Public assistance for signing up with the protective alliance in both Sweden and Finland has actually skyrocketed following Russia’s intrusion of Ukraine.

Speaking in Sweden along with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, Johnson worried the rights of sovereign nations to chart their own strategies.

“The war in Ukraine is forcing us all to make difficult decisions, but sovereign nations must be free to make those decisions without fear or influence or threat of retaliation,” he stated. Johnson is arranged to check out Finland too to sign a comparable security contract.

— Natasha Turak